He was born on 4 August 1819 the son of James Raeburn, architect and principal clerk to the Scottish Office of, and Mary Ann Petrie. He was named after his father’s employer, Robert Reid. He worked here until the death of his father at which point he took his father’s role.
He was apprenticed from 1835 until 1841 to Thomas Brown, architect for the Prison Board of Scotland.
In 1837 he unsuccessfully submitted an entry for the monument to John Knox at the Glasgow Necropolis and in 1838 an equally unsuccessful bid to design the Scott Monument. From 1841 Robert took over the work from his father, who had then retired, as Clerk of for government schemes. During this time he operated initially from his father’s house a 3 Warriston Place then moved to 4 Warriston Crescent.
During this period he contributed greatly to civic improvements in the city, overseeing the redesign of North Bridge, and remodelling of Parliament Square.
In 1865 he moved to new offices in Pitt Street (now renamed Dublin Street). This led to his involvement in the new headquarters for the Free Church Offices on the Mound.
In 1858 he was commissioned to lay out the Grange area for villa development on the south side of Edinburgh, revising a previous plan created by David Cousin. He then began to receive commissions for individual houses within this area.
In 1864 he received a further commission to extend the Grange following its quick success, and in 1877 this was extended to what is now Grange Loan.
Reid never married. In his final years he lived and worked at 44 Charlotte Square.
